It seems everywhere you look in the shotokan world, karate sensei are debating kata applications.

I find kata bunkai very interesting, but my karate training mainly consists of the three k’s (kihon, kata and kumite), every now and then, we will practice kata applications, classical (as the moves are performed in the kata) and self defence versions of the same moves.

As I have said many times before, I personally, do not practice karate just for fighting, don’t get me wrong, fighting definitely plays a part in my karate, but if I just wanted to fight, I would practice mixed martial arts.

I agree that your videos are incredibly useful, especially for novices like me who are still starting out.

I especially found the tutorial given by Linden on Heian Nidan helpful because he was able to talk his viewer-students though each of the steps, with instructions and explanations along the way.

I was wondering if a similar tutorial has or can be made for Heian Sandan. Whilst there is a Sandan video on the website I do find it difficult to follow without Linden's "walk through" instructions.

Thank you Shotokan Unleashed for providing an amazing site.

Everybody’s different, some karate-ka like high kicks, some like low kicks, but which one is better?

Tae kwon do, perform very high kicks, that are fast and powerful, some karate groups only practice kicking below the belt and some practice both high and low kicking.

I believe it’s all down to the individual involved. I personally wouldn’t recommend high kicks in self defence, but then again, I’m sure there are people who do recommend high kicks.

Really, it doesn’t matter what someone says or doesn’t say, because when it comes to self defence, you will do, whatever you practice! So if you practice head kicks, day in day out, there’s a high chance, that if you kicked whilst defending yourself, in a self defence situation, the kick will probably target the head.

I am now trying to get to grips with Heian kata as opposed to the Pinan kata I studied ten years ago with the Shukokai karate association.

It's slowly coming back to me with the great help of your videos!

Just tested and obtained rank of 2nd Kyu Brown Belt! Have been training hard and everyday on my kata and seem to be moving up faster than normal. I have been 3rd Kyu for about 2 months and have learned 9 out of 10 kata required for Black Belt testing so far. Only one left to learn is Jion. Will keep everyone updated! Train hard students!!